This invention relates to discharge outlets for railway hopper cars.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,501 (1967) assigned to the same assignee as the present application, a railway hopper car discharge outlet is disclosed, including a horizontally moving outlet gate, movable between open and closed positions relative to the outlet discharge opening.
Below the gate a divider and a pair of discharge chutes are mounted to allow discharge of the lading through laterally spaced discharge openings. Some unloading sites have boots which fit these unloading chutes. The pair of discharge chutes can be moved from below the discharge opening by pinions and a rack to discharge the lading through the entire cross-sectional area of the discharge opening. Some unloading sites have boots which fit this larger discharge opening.
However, in either case, the weight of the lading acts on the entire upper surface of the gate in closed position. In order to open the gate the frictional force between the entire upper surface of the gate and the lading must be overcome. This is a large force and in many instances requires considerable opening torque to open the gate. Occasionally it is quite difficult for the operator to open the gate.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,533,862 (1925) a steel grain car is disclosed having transversely spaced outlets attached to depending flanges of a steel car floor. Each outlet has its own separately operable gravity gate.
However, since the outlets are attached to the car floor, this outlet arrangement is not readily modified to provide a discharge opening having a large cross-sectional area in the lower portion of the hopper for use in services where a large unloading boot is available at the unloading site.